Marijuana Blog

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Michele Leonhart, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), repeatedly criticized the Obama administration at a hearing Wednesday on the DEA’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

In a memo released in July 2013, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it would not interfere with the effective implementation of laws regulating the cultivation and sale of marijuana for adults in Colorado and Washington. When asked by Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) during a Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee hearing whether the Obama administration’s tolerant views toward legal marijuana had affected morale at the DEA, which is a branch of the DOJ, Leonhart replied that “our agents are fighting back against those messages. It makes us fight harder.” She had earlier criticized the DOJ for a perceived delay in issuing a response to Washington and Colorado’s new laws, claiming there was “a lot of confusion in those 296 days.”

Leonhart also claimed that public opinion in Colorado is turning against the initiative making marijuana legal, yet two recent polls suggest Colorado residents are more supportive of the law than ever before. A Public Policy Polling survey from March showed that 57% of Colorado voters think marijuana should be legal, and a Quinnipiac poll from February showed 58% support for the state’s legalization law. It was supported by 54.8% of voters in 2012. Finally, Leonhart claimed legalization would be dangerous to pets in Colorado and warned of a surge in veterinary clinic visits due to dogs consuming marijuana.

While Leonhart was testifying to the committee, the Pew Research Center released a poll showing 75% of Americans believe the sale and use of marijuana will eventually be made legal nationwide, and more than 60% believe alcohol is more harmful to individual health and to society than marijuana. The poll can be viewed online at http://www.people-press.org/2014/04/02/americas-new-drug-policy-landscape/

The Marijuana Policy Project has launched a Change.org petition calling on the president to fire Leonhart and replace her with someone who will base decisions on science and evidence instead of politics and ideology. The petition currently has more than 29,000 signatures and is available at https://www.change.org/petitions/president-barack-obama-fire-anti-marijuana-dea-administrator-michele-leonhart.

THC is not the only compound in cannabis that assists us. While it is the substance that gets the user high, not all people want that feeling from the medicine they get. And because marijuana is a plant and can be bred and changed, giving the user no effects other than relief from symptoms. The solution for this is simple; hemp based CBD oil. This oil can be taken orally or applied topically and contains very little amounts of THC, which makes the oil perfect for children who need medicine for epilepsy, ADHD, and other afflictions.

The push for the legalization of the CBD oil (the law states that CBD oil derived from hemp plants containing less then 3% THC is completely legal, although oil taken from plants with a higher content then 3% is still illegal) came from the parents of many children who suffer with epilepsy. Seizures in children are especially difficult and not all medicines work to stop the episodes. The children who have been using CBD oil have shown amazing improvement in their walking, talking, eating, and overall function since adding the CBD to their daily routine, not to mention an extremely large decrease in seizures. There are at least a dozen states, however, that are pushing to legalize the use of all CBD oil for patients that need it.

Although these CBD laws seem like they're very positive, there is still some skepticism coming from marijuana supporters, with the belief that the CBD bills might hinder the rest of the movement. The deputy director NORML criticized the CBD bills that are building up around the country. The deputy director said that the laws are "unworkable" and don't have any genuine benefits. And there was a policy manager from the Drug Policy Alliance who stated that they were concerned that the new bills will "leave other reform effects behind". While the CBD is great for younger children and those who don't want the effects of THC, there are people who utilize the THC for their ailments too. But with a non-psychoactive cannabis plant that seems to be gaining more and more popularity, THC may be in trouble.

Hopefully, CBD and THC will be able to co-exist together in the same movement. It's difficult to tell where it will go from here and it's understandable that some people are worried about the movement. If CBD takes off (which it already is, as it appeals to those who really just aren't looking to get high), there is the potential for psychoactive cannabis to become less popular in the mainstream. But as always, only time will tell what will happen in this brand new industry.

If you think that you're not being monitored by some nerdy dude in a dark room somewhere, you're wrong. Everything you do on your phones and computer is tracked, not to mention your medical records are on file in how many computer systems? Patients that are using medical marijuana (as well as those who are using recreational) have great concerns for their privacy and who knows that they're using marijuana to combat illness. Being kept on file can be very scary for some people and thankfully, the recreational shops in Colorado are doing what they can to provide recreational users with some privacy and hopefully medical shops will follow suit.

The amendment that Colorado passed doesn't require that records be kept on those that purchase recreational marijuana. You simply walk in to the store, flash your ID (which I'm sure goes under very intense scrutiny to make sure that you are who the ID says you are, as well as the realness of the ID itself), and you can have your pick from the many strains that this shops carry. While the shops aren't required to take down information, some have implemented rewards programs for what Brooke Gehring of Bud Med says is a way to "show the success of the business". Which definitely makes a lot of sense! By instilling a rewards program, the shops can gain regular customers as well as offer promotional deals to those who return.

Since the law in Colorado was written to strongly resemble the rules set forth to govern alcohol, the stores are not required to get any additional information from their customers other than the government issued ID. However, customers must be aware of the presence of cameras in these shops (cameras are MANDATORY which means every shop will have them somewhere), where the images of customer faces are captured and can be looked at by the enforcement agents hired by the state up to 40 days after you visit the shop. Treating marijuana like alcohol in the recreational aspect is an extremely good idea that not only maintains the privacy of people buying but promotes that the employees pay much closer attention to their customers, much like the role of a bartender in a bar. Keep an eye out for sketchy behavior, know what a fake ID or passport looks like, and always stay alert.

In such a new industry, the laws and rules aren't going to be perfect the first time around. There is a lot of work to be done in order to get the programs perfect and only time will show us where the cannabis industry will go from here. Medical patients deserve privacy like recreational users too. Even though some stoners don't really care who knows that they're smoking, there are others who just want to get stoned in peace. We can only wait to see where things go from here!